Exclusive: ICC issued two secret arrest warrants for Taliban members for gender persecution

Exclusive: ICC issued two secret arrest warrants for Taliban members for gender persecution Submitted by Sondos Asem on Tue, 08/11/2026 - 16:01 International Criminal Court issued warrants last year after secret applications prepared under Karim Khan Afghan women along with a girl walk along a street in Loy Viala village in Afghanistan's Kandahar on 21 June 2026 (Sanaullah Seiam/AFP) Off Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued two secret arrest warrants last year for senior members of the Taliban for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender and political grounds, Middle East Eye can reveal. According to sealed documents and sources briefed on the matter, the warrants were issued confidentially by a panel of three judges in September 2025. This was two months after the same panel publicly issued arrest warrants for the Taliban's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Afghanistan’s chief justice, for the same crime.